Russian airlines will stop almost all flights to foreign countries on 6 March in a move to avoid seizure of their planes, many of which are being leased from foreign owners. Russian air connections with the EU, some non-EU European countries, the US and Canada were halted last week or earlier this week, as part of Western sanctions against Russia.
Russian federal agency for aviation transport FAVT said today that it recommends that all Russian airlines "which have planes registered abroad under leasing contracts with foreign partners" halt flights from Russia to destinations outside the country from 6 March and halt flights from foreign countries on 8 March. "The reason for this measure is high level of risk of planes being detained or arrested abroad".
Russian state-controlled Aeroflot, the country's largest air carrier, said it will operate flights to foreign countries in the next two days but only passengers that have a return ticket for a date not later than 8 March will be admitted to flights from Russia. The airline is offering ticket exchanges or refunds.
Aeroflot will continue operating flights within Russia and between Russia and Belarus, the firm said.
Privately-owned air carrier S7 has cancelled all its international flights from today. "S7 regional offices are assisting tourists in getting back home by flights of partner airlines", the firm said today.
Russian privately-owned air carrier Red Wings, which uses Russian SSJ-100 planes, will continue flights to Armenia and Uzbekistan.
International flights used to account for around 50pc of all flights in Russian air space each month in pre-pandemic 2019 — this number included passenger and cargo flights operated by Russian and foreign air carriers. In August 2021, the frequency of international flights in Russian airspace recovered to 1,633 a day — 42pc lower than in the same month in pre-pandemic 2019 but the highest since February 2020 when the aviation sector began to feel the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Domestic flights rose in Russia last year, even though pandemic restrictions continued to reduce international travel as the Russian authorities boosted domestic travel with a number of measures including cashback programmes for tourist trips inside the country. The frequency of Russian domestic flights averaged 4,077/d in June, the highest for any month since at least 2016, according to data from Russian State Air Traffic Management.
